Welcome!

Welcome to Plan with Purpose! A blog dedicated technology and behavioral finance. We’re here to help tomorrow’s advisor, today. Advisors have too much on their plates to stay ahead of the tech curve. AI is a buzzword that’s taken the world by storm and we’re building a shelter. Where advisors can stop by, warm up with a cup of coffee, and ready themselves for the storm outside.

Who am I? I am Erik Tena; I love learning, meeting new people, and elevating others. I grew up in rural, agricultural Nebraska with a passion for innovation and technology. My curiosity and passion to improve the world naturally led me to learn how to code. But coding was like pulling teeth. And I never quite fit into the “dev” persona. So I dropped my interests and focused on finance.

What I love most about wealth management is the relationships I get to build with families. I love helping families maximize their life experiences with their wealth. I believe the future of wealth management will focus less on return on investment, and more on return on life.

The industry has always been behind on the innovation curve. Many advisors are at the beginning of their digital transformation journey. I have interviewed 50+ advisors each with a unique story, niche, and goals. But one thing they all have in common – they piece together technology because it’s the best they can do. They’re some of the best in the industry! Yet they avoid technology because it changes faster than they can keep up.

A few years in wealth management, I embraced what made me unique. Now I’m building a community around my two passions: behavioral financial planning and the technology needed to elevate wealth management. Each blog post will help you navigate change, plan with purpose, and lead with confidence. I’ll research and provide insight in a consumable format. That way you can read a blog post then implement change. That’s time to value in one quick read! Sound good?

How we’ll bridge the gap.

In order to stay provide deep insight, we’ll focus on the advisor’s point of view. If you want more client-facing content, there’s plenty of great content elsewhere. Advisors need to be aware of the prerequisites needed for their digital practice to succeed.

Front end

• Industry credibility: Designations and endorsements help establish yourself as a professional. Don’t fail the eye test.
• Social media identity: You have 5 seconds to capture someone’s attention. Post valuable content, no cookie-cutter bullshit. Think of each post as a 5-second opportunity to connect with someone new.
• Online image: Your website is your digital office. Many advisors focus on creating a perfect client experience in office while having an outdated and unresponsive website. I’ll bet you $1 you have a schedule for your building renovations and maintenance. Why not your website?

Back end

• Processes: The age of robots will require manuals. Processes are key. AI and automation cannot be done without rules or a “handbook” for your AI assistants to follow.
• Knowledge base: As a good advisor, your brain captures the soft details of your clients – memories. You know their personality. But this is not captured in the notes you log! Qualitative data will be a valuable resource to add nuance and zest to the actions of our machine friends.
• Patience: Do you remember when you first hired a new employee? There is a learning curve! Patience will be needed to transform your practice. Learning to review details and perform regular housecleaning will be needed as you begin your digital transformation.

These prerequisites will set a strong foundation for your digital future. Individuals who focus on these will be leagues ahead of the competition. This blog will provide actionable steps to build habits and implement these prerequisites into your day to day. After we cover the foundational steps needed for the firm of the future, we’ll explore what others are building. As we research topics that will enhance our core and transform our practice, keep the following in mind:

Know your why: Document it.

You cannot build the future of your practice on a shaky foundation. Before you can strategize about tomorrow, we have to understand where your firm is at today. Documentation will be vital in your firm’s success with technology. For you to create an AI assistant that will benefit your firm, you need to document and give it your brain power. Have you documented the following?

• How you collect and store information: Understand what key information you capture in meetings, how you notate it, and how you access previously captured information.
• Your team roles and dynamics: You’ve probably come across a person that tracked every minute of their lives and came out way more productive after their experiment. Understand where your teams time is going and what you do and don’t want to focus on. This will come in handy.
• Your firm’s processes: Understanding the operational aspects of your firm will improve clarity of ownership, but it will also make it easier to create workflows. The more detail you can capture, the more your next employee will be able to rely on your processes.
• Your client type: Your ideal client needs to have a profile. Describe a client you’d want 100 of. This information will play a BIG role in creating a digital community for your ideal client.

Think of what is most important for you and where you’d like to start. Remember, this is a journey. And this is only the be

Gather data that matters: Qualitative data.

In today’s world, data is described as the new oil. We meet with clients regularly and have yet to harness the potential sitting right in front of us. But what data matters? Collecting meeting notes is only beneficial if you collect the right information. Qualitative data or soft data is often overlooked. Ask personal questions and begin building a persona for each client. This will help you better understand your client, and help you shape planning strategies later.

Also, accessing this information years later is important. How long have your been logging notes, only to never look at them again? Current systems are built as logging tools, not relationship management tools. It’s important to master the art of asking questions, gathering noteworthy information, and accessing it down the road. We’ll emphasize what most practices lack – accessing information down the road. We’ll walk through how to build the pipelines needed to drill and use the new oil.

Your next employee: Artificial Intelligence.

No, AI is not here to take anyone’s job. But it is here to enhance your job and help you double down on what you care about. First, we need to offload some work. Figure out what it is that you don’t want to do. This is where the prerequisites will be huge! Processes, documentation, and a knowledge base are all needed for functional AI. It needs access to everything you know – your memories. The better you are at documenting and gearing the machine in the right direction, the better you’ll sleep at night.

All the buzz around AI agents is real. RPAs (robotic process automation) have been around for years. Simple automation workflows can be set up and these robots can follow a process to the T. AI agents have opened the doors for more complex processes to be automated. Feelings are one thing that will be crucial in complex workflows. If the AI agent does not have a memory bank with emotions (qualitative information) it will not respond appropriately. Our industry is driven by behavior so it is important to cement a foundational of behavior in our firms. We’ll dive into AI use cases, test them, and show you the results! The goal is to offload workflows so that you and your team can focus on your purpose.

I hope you enjoy learning and growing with me. Follow along as we build tools, processes, and frameworks that will unlock your practice. Let’s build a better world, together.

-Erik